From Grime to Gleam

"Alright Brats, its time to get some real cleaning done. I'll assign you in groups of four to get the headquarters done faster." Levi says as he walks past the lined up scouts, Crystal stood firm in her salute as he stops in front of her, "Crystal, leader."

"Yes sir!" Crystal says walking to the other side of the room.

"Jean, Armin, Mikasa. Go with Crystal to the library!"

"Yes sir!" The three shout, and go up to Crystal.

"Its up to you to divy out the work." Levi says as he looks at her, and Crystal gulps a little.

"Understood Sir," Crystal looks at the three, "Let's get going then."

As they collected the cleaning supplies from the broom closet, Crystal follows Jean as he goes towards the library.

"Captain Levi is noticing your growth as a scout, Crystal!" Armin says enthusiastically, "He gave you position of leader right off the bat!"

"H-He probably just did it because he knew I know how to clean." Crystal mutters, "Right Jean?"

"I don't know. Levi doesn't typically put recruits in charge of veterans."

"Yeah, but I'm sure a lot of them didn't know how to clean."

"Stop undermining compliments," Mikasa speaks up softly, "You were chosen because Levi thought you would be the best choice. That's all there is to it."

"S-Sorry..." Crystal lowers her head before a hand in placed on her shoulder, she looks to see Armin.

"Its alright. We're all here to support each other, feeling inadequate is part of the experience."

"Thanks Armin..." The four Scouts enter the library, which is a large, dusty room filled with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. Crystal takes a deep breath and looks around the room, feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that needs to be done.

"Okay," she says, trying to sound confident. "Let's divide up the tasks."

She assigns Jean to dust the bookshelves, Armin to clean the windows, and Mikasa to sweep the floor. She takes on the task of cleaning the tables and chairs.

The four Scouts work in silence for a while, each focused on their own task. When Jean speaks up, "I heard Levi ended up making you cry."

"I was teary," Crystal says softly, "But it taught me to toughen up a little. What he said to me made sense, if the pressure of firing a single bullet made me panic, I'm unfit for battle."

"While that's true, its alright to not know how to handle yourself when you first join." Mikasa adds.

"Exactly. You think we all came into the Scouts knowing how to handle killing people? No it took us quite a while for it to set in. You'll be fine." Jean says with a huff, "If you can handle Levi's harsh tone and not walk out immediately, you'll do fine in a battle." Crystal went to say something when she sensed someone's eyes.

"Hello?" Crystal looks towards the door to the library, and watched as it shut slightly, "Huh? Who was at the door?"

"Was someone there?" Armin asks, and Crystal walks over, opening the door before looking out down the hallway.

"I thought I felt someone's eyes on me again." Crystal says simply, her eyes squinting as she focused down the dark hallway, she shuts the library door and looks at them, "We should focus on getting this place finished, Levi should be doing his rounds soon."

"Understood!" The three shout almost playfully, and Crystal snickers into her hand before she continues to clean. After a few hours, the library is starting to look much better. The dust is gone, the windows are sparkling, and the floor is swept clean. Crystal takes a step back and admires their work.

"Good job," she says to the others.

"Thanks," Jean says. "We make a pretty good team."

"Yeah," Armin agrees. "It's nice to work together like this."

Mikasa nods in agreement, and Crystal tenses up.

"That feeling is back-" Crystal swiftly turns around to see Levi walking into the Library, for a moment she was relieved someone was actually there this time, but then she was confused.

"It looks done better than it usually is." Levi checks each area with his hand, finding no dust coming off on his hand he looks at Crystal, "Exceptional work. You all get to have a break before dinner."

"Thank you, Captain Levi!" They all shout, and as Crystal held her salute, she noticed he stared at her for a moment, cocking an eyebrow, she couldn't question him as he spun around to leave.

Crystal couldn't shake the feeling that Levi was who she sensed the night before, and who she sensed earlier. But why would he runaway when she noticed him?

"Let's go relax in the mess hall." Jean says as he starts to walk out, and Crystal follows. As they go in, they sit down at one of the tables.

"You got praised directly by Levi!" Armin cheers a little, "Good job!"

"It was all of us, not just me." Crystal refutes, "But we were complimented on our work."

"She at least admits it was good." Jean smirks, "You're selfless. Almost too selfless." Putting his hand on her head, he rubs her head as she squints in protest.

"I can't wait to see what else you achieve, Crystal." Armin says happily, and Crystal couldn't help but feel her cheeks warm up. 

But then her senses felt like they were shot, "That person-" Crystal snaps her head towards the door only to watch it close, "I'll be right back-" Crystal jumps up and runs out after them. She manages to hear footsteps running from her, and she felt more determined to catch up to them.

As they took a turn though, she could hear a door shut, and as she ended up at the start of the hallway, she breathes heavily as she looks at all the doors.

"Who's there?! Why have you been spying on us all day today?" No response, "I'll catch you one day, just you watch. I'll get to be as fast as the Captain and I'll catch you." She said it more like a promise, rather than a threat, but she felt like she was being stalked. Walking back to the Mess Hall, Jean looks at her.

"What happened?"

"That person was spying on us again. I gave chase, but they were ridiculously fast." Crystal says breathlessly, "I need to work on my speed and endurance on my next day off." 

"What will you do when you catch them?" Mikasa asks.

"I'm not gonna do anything, I just want to know who's setting my senses off like this." 

"Is it intense?"

"Yes, almost as if they're staring directly at the back of my head."

"How strange..." Armin says gently, "I'm sure what you're sensing is real, but if catching who it is might get you in trouble, I don't know if it's worth it."

"I'll be fine, I'll talk to Commander Hange about it before I get to that point."

"You and the commander are pretty chummy." Jean says, leaning onto his hand.

"Its easy to talk to her," Crystal surmised, "I feel safe speaking to her."

"Do you feel safe talking to us?" Armin asks, and Crystal looks at him.

"I feel safer than I did when I first arrived." Was all she could say before scouts started to fill the mess hall. Drowning out any kind of serious conversation they could've had.